On the Run
by usurped
Summary: Finn hasn't always lived in Ohio. His name hasn't always been Finn. But he is a survivor, Sam and Dean Winchester can attest to that. Rated for gore and language.


**On the Run**

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or Glee, I just like playing.

A/N: I've been wanting to write something about this ever since I realized that Cory Monteith was on Supernatural (1x02, Wendigo), but it's taken me awhile to find the time. Enjoy! And reviews are always appreciated!

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><p>Gary doesn't remember screaming, even though Tommy tells him that he did. Tommy's voice is supposed to be stilted in a tease but he shudders when he says it and he can't hide the fear in his eyes.<p>

Gary fingers the bandage wrapped around his shoulders and doesn't ask again.

o.o.o

He's wild-eyed and paranoid, flinching at the sound of a twig snapping and refusing to leave the house if he won't be home before sunset.

When his mother finds him in the closet, all six feet of him curled into an impossibly small ball that's rocking back and forth and humming, she decides it's time to move.

They pack up their belongings and move halfway across the country to the small town of Lima, Ohio. He changes his name and cuts all ties with the people he used to know.

Enter Finn Hudson, upcoming football star and beloved idiot of McKinley High.

He works hard to reinvent himself, flipping his entire persona on its ear. He starts wearing jacket vests and trying out for sports. He keeps his face shaven and throws out his DS. He stops camping and starts chatting up the ladies.

o.o.o

Lima fits him like a glove (or maybe it's the other way around). It's just small enough to let him feel safe and no one here talks about grizzly bears that let themselves into people's locked cabins to steal away its inhabitants.

His mother finds a nice job and doesn't complain about all the trouble he's caused because even though he's no longer Gary at least he's not _scared_.

o.o.o

Eventually he stops jumping every time people pat him on the back. And even though the pain has long since subsided he still winces whenever someone touches the place where his scar is. The raised skin is puckered and pink, snaking its jagged trails on a course from his lower back to the top of his left shoulder.

He can still feel phantom fingers, ice cold in his skin and ruthless.

He doesn't change in front of the other football players.

o.o.o

One day he tells his mom that he can't go to school because he thinks he's caught that stomach virus going around school. She tucks him back into bed and cleans up the mess he left in the bathroom before calling the school.

What he doesn't tell her is that the reason last night's lasagna ended up in the toilet (for the most part) is because he dreamed about _Then_.

o.o.o

The cave smells like dirt and stale air. It takes him awhile to recognize the acrid taste in his mouth as blood. His shoulders hurt. His head hurts. His body hurts.

With its arrival comes the smell of death and raw meat. It moves towards him, elongated arms swinging awkwardly at its sides and hungry eyes focused. He wants to look away but he can't. There's a thin line of goo dripping from its jaws – _it's fucking _drooling – and its knife-like fingers are practically twitching in anticipation.

_I can't even breathe._

And then some guy behind him starts freaking out, twisting in his restraints and screaming at the top of his lungs. Gary – _Gary _, because that's who he was back then, but no more, no more – doesn't know what to do when the creature changes direction at the last second and leaves him spinning in his ropes as it moves to devour the poor unfortunate bastard.

_I'm going to die. _

The wendigo will eat four more people before he is rescued.

o.o.o

When the Spanish teacher accuses him of having weed, he panics.

When the same teacher tells him that he'll keep quiet if he joins Glee Club, he almost loses it.

Gary likes music. He took voice lessons for seven months when he was younger. Finn likes _sports._ He can't get kicked off the team, he just can't.

So since he doesn't know what else to do, he does both.

o.o.o

Gary likes to dance.

So Finn has two left feet and no rhythm.

o.o.o

Finn likes to pretend that he was never a boy named Gary.

But sometimes it's difficult. Like when he hears his mom talking on the phone to one of her friends back in Colorado (she says she doesn't have to drop everybody she knows just because he did) about the weather, current fashions, and wild animal attacks.

Or the time he went to meet Rachel Berry after school instead of going straight to Quinn. Gary would have never gone for the cheerleading captain. He liked girls more like Rachel- quirky, determined, and not obsessed with popularity titles.

That night he is terrorized by nightmares that leave him gasping for air and shivering with a cold sweat. He avoids Rachel for a week straight.

o.o.o

_Gary liked this. Therefore, Finn must like that._

Gary liked reading in his spare time. Therefore, Finn must like playing Xbox in his spare time.

Gary liked to sleep on his stomach. Therefore, Finn must like sleeping on his side.

Gary was allergic to pistachios. Therefore, Finn must eat pistachios. (That one didn't work out like he had intended and he spends the night in the hospital with a swollen throat and an angry mother).

o.o.o

He never expects to see the Winchesters again, so it stands to reason that when he does (and dressed in janitor outfits no less) he drops the text book he's carrying and runs as fast as he can in the other direction.

In hindsight that might not have been the smartest thing to do, since it was between classes and the three of them were the only ones in the hall. The brothers are after him like a pack of hounds hunting rabbit and his lungs kind of hurt and he's not exactly sure why he's running when he didn't do anything wrong.

So he stops. And Dean doesn't so much tackle him as trip over him, but they both go down in a tangle of limbs regardless. He throws his hands up in surrender and pants to catch his breath, which is harder than it sounds with Dean sitting on his diaphragm.

"_Gary?_ Dude, why didn't you just say something? Last time we saw you... well, you look a lot better now." Sam laughs.

"And taller," Dean adds as the recognition sets. "You're going to give Sasquatch over here a run for his money if you get any closer to the clouds."

_I'm not Gary _is what he wants to say. But he can't because to them, he's still the same guy. _I'm not_.

"What are you in town for?" he asks instead. Because as much as he doesn't want to know, he really does. He just wants to be prepared.

o.o.o

Finn feels like he's playing hide-and-seek in a glass house.

No matter where he hides everything can find him.

o.o.o

He doesn't expect Sam and Dean to go digging through his personal files, or search out his history using a combination of public records and Sam's more than competent computer skills.

Nor does he expect to come home after football practice to find them sitting in his kitchen, chatting to his mother like they belong in his house.

"We just wanted to ask if you've noticed anything strange going on," Sam explains once Finn has ushered them into his room and closed the door.

Finn shakes his head no. The Winchesters have a pitying look on their faces that lets him know they've done their homework. _Finn 101, step right up._ Something about their sympathy sets him on edge. He doesn't need them feeling sorry for _him_. He's not the one chasing those _things_ all over the country. He's safe; he's a-okay.

The tension in the air is palpable, and everyone knows it. "If you notice anything, give us a call. We'll help."

Dean seals the promise by setting a folded piece of paper on his nightstand.

o.o.o

He's never seen smoke come out of a person before.

It reminds him of this really old truck he saw once, puttering down the road like it was on its last leg and spewing exhaust from its tailpipe like it was going to singlehandedly take out the ozone layer.

Puckerman's eyes roll back into his head after it's gone and he hits the ground like a bag of bricks. Finn can still feel the hands around his neck. He shivers all the way home but not once does he touch the scrap of paper tucked away in his wallet.

o.o.o

Puck doesn't remember anything.

He talks to Finn the next day just like usual, but this time Finn keeps stealing glances at his eyes to make sure they aren't all black.

o.o.o

Finn has new nightmares now.

"Stay away from those Winchester boys, you hear?"

"We just want a little payback, is that so wrong?"

"You don't have to suffer anymore, love. Just help us take them."

_I can't_ he wants to whisper. But the words don't leave the inside of his skull because Not-Puck is choking him too hard for them to form on his tongue.

o.o.o

Finn avoids the Winchesters whenever he sees them in the halls. They're growing more frustrated as trail after trail runs cold, he can tell by their exhausted expressions.

"We'll know if you contact them," the voice assured him.

He keeps his head down and his mouth closed, wishing he wasn't such a coward.

"The trap is almost set."

He wonders if the voices will ever fade from his memory. He doesn't even remember which ones are real and which ones he merely dreamed into existence.

o.o.o

Next is Quinn.

He leans down to kiss her after their last class but freezes when he sees those eyes. She's smirking at him and winks for good measure.

She laughs as the color drains from his face and pats him on the back. "You look a little pale," she tells him.

"Get out of her." His voice shakes.

"That's what you should've told your pal Puckerman," she chuckles. Finn doesn't understand until much later what she means. After all, Quinn doesn't even know herself that she's pregnant yet. "Listen. You want to forget everything don't you? I can make that happen." She leans in close until he can feel her breath blowing warm against his ear. Her voice is sultry and low, like it is when Quinn is trying to coax him into something he doesn't want to do. "I can make Colorado seem like just a bad dream. I can make you feel better. No more sleepless nights or painful memories. You want that, don't you?"

Finn doesn't answer. He doesn't have to.

o.o.o

Finn isn't sure what's worse anymore, the dreams that capture him as soon as he shuts his eyes or the horror movie that is taking place during his waking hours.

When he comes home one day to find Dean bound to one of his kitchen chairs, he decides on the latter. The man is gagged and disoriented, but somehow his eyes immediately find Finn. Dean doesn't need to speak for Finn to understand what he wants. The fear and hope are all written in his eyes.

He's shouting "help" without saying anything at all.

o.o.o

Sam goes all Juggernaut on his front door when he arrives, causing Finn to jump.

Before he can run though, his mom is there, all sweet smiles and black eyes.

Finn isn't even sure how Sam ends up sprawled in front of him, hands tied behind his back and legs hobbled. His mom – no, not his mom – is back beside him, patting him on the head and telling him what a good boy he's been.

She pulls the gag from Dean's mouth and then smacks him hard across the face. Finn flinches.

"Gary, _do_ something," Dean growls. He's half commanding half pleading and Finn is no longer sure what to do with himself. He feels like he's too big for the room and he hunches his shoulders, lowers his head, and withdraws.

He has gotten this far by not doing anything. He doesn't want to have to do something now.

"He's not Gary," she spits. "He's Finn. And my precious boy would do anything to keep it that way."

He feels the questioning stares of the two brothers and he withers under their weight.

"She said she would make it go away. All the memories, all the…" he falters for a second, scrambling for the words he needs to gain forgiveness. "All I had to do was leave you alone! She didn't say anything about this! I didn't know, I didn't know." His voice breaks while he's talking and his throat is dry.

"So do something now, Finn," Sam urges.

There's a puddle of blood under Sam that has been slowly growing.

_The creature slurps and tears and all the girl can do is scream. Soon enough she can't even do that, because it's torn a gaping hole in her throat. What blood isn't on its face is dripping to the floor. He leaves her half eaten although he'll be back the next day to finish the meal. Even after it's gone the blood keeps falling. Drip drop, drip, drip, drip, until the pool of blood under her starts snaking away across the floor in tiny rivulets. Mini rivers of blood. _

He squeezes his eyes shut and counts to ten, but when he opens them nothing has changed.

o.o.o

She leaves him in charge.

She says it's because she trusts him, but Finn knows it's really because he's too afraid to do anything and she knows it. Just like she knows what he wants and whispers them in the form of promises in his ear.

"Just keep doing what you're doing."

Which is nothing.

As soon as she's gone Dean is talking, his voice on the verge of panic but still controlled. Sam is hurt and he needs to help and goddammit, Finn, it doesn't matter what he does as long as he does _something._

Sam has gone quiet and still, no longer straining against his restraints and Finn can see the worry in Dean's eyes as plain as day.

o.o.o

When she comes back into the room, Finn is rooted to the same spot he was in before she left. She smiles proudly and sneers at Dean. "Good boys always listen to their mothers."

Dean glowers up at her from his seat. "There's just one problem with that."

"And what's that?" she purrs, unconcerned.

"You aren't his mother. _Now_!"

She screams, her mouth twisting in agony and surprise. She turns on Finn, who's holding an empty canteen and looking thoroughly terrified. He's out of holy water so he just hurls the container, clocking her dead in the forehead and stopping her mid-step.

"You little-"

But Dean is on her before she has the chance to advance, sending the knife in her hand skittering to the other side of the kitchen. Finn helps hold her down, scared that he's going to leave bruises but too terrified to loosen his grip.

Dean starts chanting in some language Finn doesn't know and his mother struggles violently underneath them, bucking and howling like Dean is twisting a knife in her gut instead of just talking at her.

He closes his eyes a final time and simply holds on, until Dean stops speaking and his mother lays limp on the kitchen tiles.

Tonight, he will have no dreams.

o.o.o

His mother greets him with breakfast the next day, unaware and normal.

He meets Dean and Sam at the hotel they've been staying in. Sam is patched up but Finn doubts they've stepped foot in a hospital. He watches as they pack the last of their arsenal into a worn out duffel bag and toss it in the trunk of a shiny black Impala.

"I'm sorry," Finn says at last, the words choking him on their way out and making his eyes water.

"Hey, it's okay. Really." And Sam sounds so genuine that it makes Finn feel even worse.

"But I should have never listened. I was so _stu_pid. I got you both hurt. You could have gotten killed."

_Yellow, pointy teeth dig into another man. This one writhes on the end of his rope like a snake, twisting and fighting the inevitable. By the end, its teeth are stained red._

"It doesn't matter that you made mistakes, alright? We all do it. That's why we're human. What matters is that you made the right decision when it mattered most. So when we say that it's okay, we mean it's okay. Got it?"

Finn can't find the right words so he just nods. They smile at him and Dean pats the roof of the car. "Come on, babe, we've got a yellow-eyed son of a bitch to find."

The roaring sound of the Impala's engine is the last thing he hears before the brothers disappear. Their phone numbers will stay in his wallet until it falls apart. And then the next wallet, and the next, and so on, until the numbers are so faint they're hard to read and the paper is torn and soft with age.

He'll never call, but it makes him feel safer.

o.o.o

On good nights, he dreams of the Winchesters battling their way to victory or about winning the upcoming football game. He likes those dreams because he wakes up the next day feeling refreshed and content.

But on other nights the nightmares still plague his sleep, sometimes the wendigo and other times black-eyed demons. On the really bad nights he suffers through black-eyed wendigos with green leather skin and the sultry voice of a woman who knows how to get what she wants.

He wakes up tangled in his sheets from thrashing and stares at the ceiling until the sun creeps into his window and slinks its way across his room. When he thinks about asking his mom to move again he closes his eyes, counts to ten, and just breathes.

Because Gary liked to run away when faced with problems that he didn't want to deal with.

Therefore, Finn must stay.


End file.
